France and the EU Commission Move Forward With Pay Directive Implementation

France has released a draft bill to transpose the requirements of the EU Pay Transparency Directive into French law. A consultation meeting with social partners will take place on March 19, 2026, to finalize text to be presented to the Council of Ministers. The key features of this proposal are discussed below.

Scope

The draft law would apply to companies and public-sector entities employing both private-law employees and public-law agents. At this stage, the specific transposition provisions applicable to public-law employers and agents have not yet been published.

Work of Equal Value

Equal pay for “work of equal value” is one of the major concepts introduced by the Directive. The draft bill provides additional guidance on its implementation. 

The categorization of employees performing work of equal value must be established through a company-level agreement. Failing this, it may be determined by an industry-wide collective agreement (“accord de branche”), or, in the absence of such agreements, by a unilateral decision of the employer, adopted after consultation with the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) and valid for a period of three years.

The draft bill also amends the definition of work of equal value by expanding the criteria used to assess comparability. Work will be considered of equal value when it requires from employees a comparable combination of professional knowledge validated by a certification, diploma, or professional practice; abilities stemming from acquired experience; non-technical skills; responsibilities; working conditions; and physical or mental workload.

Pay Transparency in the Pre-Employment Phase

The draft bill confirms the Directive’s requirements during the recruitment process. Employers will be prohibited from requesting information from job applicants about their salary history. In addition, any job advertisement must indicate the proposed salary range for the position and reference the relevant provisions of the applicable collective bargaining agreement used to determine remuneration. Where no job posting is published, the employer must provide this information to the candidate in writing, either before the interview or during the recruitment process.

Pay Transparency During Employment 

1. Reporting of Indicators

The draft bill provides reporting obligations for companies with at least 50 employees, which will be required to publish annually a set of seven indicators relating to pay gaps between women and men. 

These indicators will replace the current gender equality index. The applicable workforce threshold will be assessed once the company has reached the relevant headcount for 12 consecutive months, under conditions to be determined by decree. The precise nature of the seven indicators, as well as the remuneration components taken into account for their calculation, will also be defined by decree. 

As of now the draft bill only define a specific indicator out of the seven that will assess pay gaps between women and men within categories grouping employees performing equal work or work of equal value. 

In companies with 50 to 249 employees, this indicator will be reported by the employer every three years. Employers will not make this information public, but will instead report it to the CSE and to employees when this disclosure cannot lead, directly or indirectly, to the identification of an individual employee’s pay. If the information cannot be kept confidential, employers need only report the indicator to the CSE. 

Flexibility is granted to companies with 50 to 99 employees, since this indicator may be removed by company-level agreement. Its entry into force will be set by decree and, in any event, no later than June 1, 2030, for companies with fewer than 150 employees.

The other indicators will be published on the Ministry’s website and may also be made available on the company’s own website.

Employers will face different obligations depending on the company’s workforce.

Companies with 50 to 99 employees:

• The company must inform the CSE and consult them on the data used for the calculation, the calculation method, and the results of each indicator.
• The employer must initiate negotiations on professional equality to provide for corrective measures, or adopt an action plan, when the indicator on pay gaps between women and men performing equal work or work of equal value by category shows a pay gap above a percentage set by decree (probably 5% as provided by the Directive).

Companies with 100+ employees:

• The company must inform the CSE and consult them on the data used for the calculation, the calculation method, and the results of each indicator.
• The CSE’s opinion is sent to the administrative authority under conditions to be set by decree.
• Employees, the CSE, or union representatives may request clarifications and justifications regarding the indicator on pay gaps between women and men performing equal work or work of equal value by category; the employer must provide a reasoned response and inform the CSE.
• If the request comes from an employee, the employer may refuse to disclose the information when disclosure is likely to lead, directly or indirectly, to disclosure of information about an employee’s pay.
• When the indicator on pay gaps between women and men performing equal work or work of equal value by category shows a pay gap above a percentage set by decree (probably 5% as provided by the Directive), the employer must justify those gaps using objective, gender-neutral criteria and consult the CSE on those justifications. The CSE’s opinion is sent to the administrative authority. In the total or partial absence of justifications, the employer must remedy the gap within six months after the first reporting, by collective agreement or unilateral decision. The employer must then report the indicator again within six months after the first reporting, with prior information and consultation of the CSE and transmission of the opinion to the administrative authority. If at least one average pay gap between women and men persists within an employee category above a percentage set by decree and is not justified by gender-neutral criteria, the employer must initiate negotiations on corrective measures or adopt an action plan. This negotiation is preceded by a report (joint assessment). The agreement or action plan is filed with the administrative authority, which may issue observations. The agreement is valid for three years, unless it provides for a shorter duration.

2. Employee Right to Information

Employees may request, in writing, details about their own pay or the average pay levels by sex for employees within the same category performing work of equal or equivalent value. Employers must respond in writing within a timeframe set by decree, though they may be exempt where the employee’s category includes fewer than a minimum number of employees, also defined by decree. 

Additionally, employers are required to inform employees annually of their right to request this information. These obligations will take effect from the date the employer implements a system for categorizing employees performing work of equal value, or at the latest, one year after the law is promulgated.

3. Adjustments to the Burden of Proof

The draft bill significantly strengthens the burden of proof in cases of alleged pay discrimination. 

Where an employer fails to comply with obligations related to pay transparency—such as the publication of pay gap indicators, consultation with the CSE, respect for employees’ right to information, or disclosure of pay policies—the entire burden of proof falls on the employer, and the employee is not required to present elements suggesting discrimination.

In general litigation concerning alleged breaches of these provisions, an employee or job applicant may present factual evidence suggesting discrimination. This can include statistical data, the pay of a previously hired employee within the same company, or the remuneration of employees in other companies where comparable pay conditions are established by a multi-company collective agreement, a group agreement, or an agreement within an economic and social unit (UES). Once such evidence is presented, the employer must demonstrate that any differences in pay are justified by objective, non-discriminatory factors. 

4. Ban on Contractual Clauses Prohibiting Disclosure of Pay Information

As per the provisions of the Directive, the draft law prohibits contractual clauses that prevent employees from disclosing information relating to their remuneration. 

Specific Penalties

The draft bill also introduces specific sanctions for non-compliance with the new pay transparency obligations. 

Companies that fail to comply with the requirements relating to the reporting of pay gap indicators or the implementation of corrective measures may be subject to a financial penalty of up to 1% of total remuneration and earnings, within the meaning of Article L.242-1 of the French Social Security Code. In certain cases, the administrative authority may first issue a formal notice requiring the employer to remedy the identified breach before imposing the penalty. 

In addition, a separate fine of up to €450 may be imposed for failure to comply with other obligations introduced by the reform, such as providing the CSE with pay gap information by employee category, respecting employees’ right to information, or ensuring that candidates receive the required pay information during the recruitment process.

EU developments

BusinessEurope (a European organization that lobbies on behalf of businesses) has written to the European Commission asking them to push the deadline for transposition by two years, together with other requests (such as increasing the reporting thresholds and using collective bargaining agreements to give a “presumption of compliance”). 

However, given the Directive was brought in by the Commission in June 2023, and considering recent communications by the Commission about businesses delaying, our view is that it is very unlikely there will be any formal amendment to the implementation deadline (from the Commission’s perspective at least) or fundamental changes to the Directive. 

The EU Commission has published its Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030. The Strategy expressly states that the Commission will publish (in cooperation with the European Institute for Gender Equality) a toolkit on gender‑neutral job evaluation and classification in 2026. This toolkit will “include tailored tools to help small and medium-sized companies to carry out these processes in-house.” In addition, the strategy states the EU Commission will provide additional funding to support the implementation of the Directive and will organize a workshop for social partners on how they can support its implementation. 

A recent EU call for proposals that aims to provide grants for developing projects related to pay transparency states the toolkit on gender‑neutral job evaluation and classification will be available this spring.